Industrial Rainwater Harvesting – the Need, Process, and Everything Else

The various processes of a factory or industry make a generous use of water resource. Some industries like power generation, textiles & garments, beverage, etc. make more use of water than their other counterparts. Along with using water for production work, the offices and factories also need to provide enough water for the sanitation and drinking purposes, to their hundreds of employees. Since the main water source can provide the limited amount, these industries and offices must rely upon the alternate source of harnessing water, i.e. rainwater harvesting.

Industrial and other public or private commercial buildings reports an excessive use of water. For some businesses or industries, water is a major raw material, needed for production and manufacturing of finished business products. For example, car wash businesses, irrigation, refueling areas, construction sites, etc. For fulfilling such a high demand for water, the installation of a rainwater harvesting system is strongly advocated (and legally mandated in some Indian states) in different types of industrial and office buildings.

The commercial centres usually have a setup in the large area of a property. This makes the installation of rainwater harvesting systems in these premises even more effective since they can offer large rainwater catchment areas and area for water storage tanks.

 

What is Positive About Setting a Rainwater Harvesting System in Commercialized Premises

The investment and expenses incurred by a business are massive. Any cost-saving system installed for these businesses can lead towards better utilization of resources and greater ROI

There are few visible benefits of setting up an RWH system, as seen by the owners of the business:

  • The water bill is a huge expense for any industry. And it is difficult to cut-back the usage of water. Installing a rainwater harvesting system leads to 80% direct cost saving on lengthy water bills.
  • It is sometimes perceived that the installation of an RWH system is an additional expense. But if you consider its future returns, the system pays for itself over a 3 to 5 year period, majorly through cost savings on water usage.
  • Most of the industries have to run methods to avail freshwater, for the personnel and industrial functional use. These methods involve filtration pumps, which are responsible for emitting carbon into the environment. Rainwater harvesting system guarantees the availability of freshwater, thus cutting down on one’s carbon footprints by saving the power used in freshwater processing.
  • As mentioned earlier, the commercial centres have bigger catchment areas. This means they have high potential to receive a larger amount of rainwater. Instead of losing such precious drops to the drains, the rainwater harvesting system can collect & store them, for those times of desperate needs.
  • Water recycling systems installed in industries and offices also get benefited by a rainwater harvesting system, as they will receive better quality, thereby increasing their shelf life. 
  • Harvested rainwater is naturally soft and is found in its purest form. This leaves your storage tanks with high-quality water, having a minimal requirement for filtration.

 

The Process for Installing a Rainwater Harvesting System

There is no difference in the basic structure of a commercial rainwater harvesting system; it must have

  • A catchment area
  • Rooftop filters
  • Conduit pipes
  • Storage Tanks
  • Water filters
  • Water Pumps

The only major difference is in the size of these systems.

For a central control, a compact control console is installed as well, which allows controlling the functions of submersible pumps. The control also has a valve with a funnel for topping up the tanks, with main water.

Since industries and offices have a great water demand, the number and capacity of harvested water tanks can be increased considerably.

The installation normally includes 9 general processes:

  • Obtaining the rainfall data
  • Obtaining the number of personnel or people supplied with water
  • Estimation of water demand
  • Calculation of total roof area
  • Determination of volume of water that can be harvested
  • Sizing and selection of filters
  • Design of delivery system
  • Cost estimation
  • Calculation of annual savings and payback period

 

Commercial Uses

When we talk about the commercial use of rainwater harvesting systems, it generally meant using the harvested water for non-potable purposes (though, the businesses may use the system for obtaining drinking water too). Here are some uses of harvested rainwater, in a commercial setup:

  • Making up a cooling tower
  • Toilet flushes
  • Irrigational purposes
  • Suppression of Fire in case of accidents
  • Manufacturing processes for business products
  • Vehicle/Fleet washes
  • Laundries
  • Filling up the pool

 

Legislation’s for Rainwater Harvesting in India

The Central and State government in India are extending their support to make the practice of rainwater harvesting a success. Along with the initiatives like Rainwater Harvest Challenge ( took up by Chennai Metro Water), many state authorities have made it a mandate for commercial and residential buildings to have rainwater harvesting system, under certain norms.

  • In Indore, Madhya Pradesh, all new buildings with an area of 250 Sq. Meter or more must have RWH system installed.

Similarly, the construction companies and owners of the commercial buildings in other states have to make provision for setting up RWH system based on state-specific building area mandate – buildings having 1000 Sq. Meter plinth area in Himachal Pradesh, Kanpur, and New Delhi; 1500 Sq. Meter covered area in Ahmedabad; 300 Sq. Meter or more in Hyderabad and so on.

  • In certain states, a rebate of 6 % on property tax has been offered to all the owners having rainwater harvesting systems installed on their building.
  • In the State of Maharashtra, a 5% rebate is provided in general tax, under the pretext of rainwater harvesting.

 Industrial Rainwater Harvesting Solutions at Chaitanya

We are known as Chaitanya Rain Harvest Products & Systems Pvt. Ltd. and are well-known for a sole distributorship of the most modern filtration systems for rainwater harvesting called APOLLO Vee-Wire Filter Screen Kit. Covering different types of industries such as sugar-mills, textiles, factory buildings, warehouses, and others, we offer them Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) roof rainwater drainage gutters.

 

Before making a purchase for our products, industries hire our expert engineers for the rainwater harvesting services, for the purpose of obtaining potential feasibility report and detailed engineering drawings for the installation of rainwater harvesting systems.

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